Data communication systems exchange user data for user devices to provide various data communication services. The user devices may be phones, computers, media players, and the like. The data communication services might be media streaming, audio/video conferencing, data messaging, or internet access. Wireless communication networks are deployed to extend the range and mobility of these data communication services.
The typical wireless communication network has several macro-cell base stations that provide radio coverage over large urban areas. The macro-cell base stations may still not be able to cover every part of the urban area with enough capacity. Outside of the urban areas, the macro-cell base stations may be too large for environments like inter-state highways and smaller towns. Wireless relays are deployed to alleviate these problems.
A wireless relay has a wireless access point to wirelessly communicate with user devices. The wireless relay also has wireless User Equipment (UE) to wirelessly communicate with macro-cell base stations or other relays. Thus, the macro-cell base stations serve both user devices and wireless relays, and the wireless relays also serve both user devices and wireless relays.
The wireless communication network uses RF bands for wireless communication. An RF band comprises a large swath of spectrum that is separated into RF channels. An exemplary RF band may be 200 Mega-Hertz (MHz) wide in the Gigi-Hertz (GHz) range and have ten 20 MHz channels. In a wireless relay, the wireless access point and the relay UE typically use different RF channels.
The wireless user devices and the wireless access point in the wireless relay use Carrier Aggregation (CA) links to exchange user data. The CA links use the RF band and RF channels. The CA links comprise a Primary Component Carrier (PCC) for network signaling and user data. The CA links include Secondary Component Carriers (SCCs) for additional user data. In some cases, the relay UE also uses CA for its network access.
Unfortunately, the UEs, wireless access points, relay UEs, and macro-cell base stations all interfere with one another across the RF channels. In particular, wireless relays may cause too much RF interference in densification scenarios when under a high load. The excessive RF interference degrades service quality for the wireless user devices.